Filthy Beautiful
by mud-bl00d-muggle
Summary: Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger are enemies due to their blood status and her best friend, but what if they were to fall in love? Dramione.
1. Hate Love

****DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER****

**Chapter 1 - Hate Love**

"She's nothing but a filthy little **mudblood**!"

Hermione instantly turned her head to see a handsome, young boy with pale blonde hair staring back her at her from across the other side of the great hall. It was Draco Malfoy, also a 5th year but a Slytherin, and an arch enemy of Hermione Granger and her two best friends; Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

Malfoy had a grudge against Harry Potter since the start of school, 5 years ago and usually referred to him as 'the chosen one' which was always spoken in a sarcastic tone, now adopted by the rest of the Slytherins. Malfoy had always been jealous of Harry's popularity, and his own greed for wealth and status had kindled a raging hatred for Harry Potter and his friends, including Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

The Weasleys weren't the richest of families but they managed to get by with second hand robes, books and pets, but Malfoy wasn't one to keep the financial state the of Weasleys a secret, so at every opportunity, he would find insults to throw at Ron about his family's 'wealth' and every time Ron's family were insulted he would go for Malfoy, but would always be held back by his best friends.

Hermione was also picked on my Malfoy and the Slytherins. He had been calling her a 'filthy little mudblood' ever since that first day at Hogwarts when she was sorted into Gryffindor by the sorting hat. She knew from the first time their eyes made contact on the Hogwarts Express that he was a bad egg, and even his last name 'Malfoy' kindled a shiver of fear among wizards and witches who spoke their name.

Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy was known for having a long line of dark wizards in his family and he was also known for his support of he-who-must-not-be-named when he was in power, although this could not be proven. The Mafoys held a dangerous, ravenous grudge against 'half-blood' witches and wizards as they believed everyone should be pure-bloods like themselves and wizards and witches should not mingle with muggles on the outside world.

Everyone knew Malfoy felt the same as his dad about half-bloods, but this hatred was deepened by the fact that Hermione, a half-blood, was top of the class in every subject, leaving Malfoy, a pure-blood, second best at everything.

But as Hermione glared into the eyes of the handsome, smirking Malfoy, she wanted so much to just blast him into oblivion with her wand which was now in her hand ready, she stood up, leaving her friends behind at the Gryffindor table and marched over to the Slytherin table as all eyes in the hall followed her every step across the room. In front of her sat Malfoy, the same boy who had called her that disgusting name. He was surrounded by fellow Slytherins, all of whom supported Malfoy and referred to him as the Prince of Slytherin. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, Malfoy's 'body guards', who went with him everywhere, stood up on either side of him making Hermione feel tiny, uneasy and outnumbered. However, she decided to press on with what she had come to do.

"How dare you! How dare you call me that! You, you...you troll!

The whole of the Slytherin table laughed, as well as one or two people from the Ravenclaw table. She had embarrassed herself once more in front of the entire school. _What was it about Malfoy that made her lost for words? As soon as she stared into his strikingly, beautiful, grey, eyes she would suddenly become tongue tied and confused. She had said beautiful, Malfoy could never be compared to __beautiful. What was she thinking?_

Draco enjoyed insulting Hermione, he didn't know why but he loved watching the intricate detail on her face as she tried to think of comebacks and ways of upsetting him; how her eyebrows moved closer together to make a gentle dip on her forehead when she was concentrating hard, or how she would pout and raise her chin high in the air as if not to be defeated, or how that confused look crossed her face as she stared into his eyes, but she shook it off by turning her head away ever so slightly. He loved how one of her chocolate brown curls would fall to the side of her face and she would gently remove it, only for it to fall exactly where it had first landed. He loved how she would tilt her head to one side as if it would help her to think better. He loved...

_What is he talking about? He didn't love anything about that mudblood! That filthy good-for-nothing mudblood! The same mud-blood who got him into trouble every year with his own father, who was always disappointed at him, a pure-blood for God's sake getting lower marks than a mud-blood. He went through years of being a disappointment to his father just because of that filthy half-blood. The Malfoys hated mud-bloods, what would posses him to think he loved anything about her? She must be controlling him with a love spell; it's the only thing he could think of. She won't get away with this, oh, she'll see. _

And with that Malfoy kicked back his chair, turned to give Hermione one last fuming expression and then swaggered over to the exit of the great hall, closely followed by Grabbe and Goyle

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><p>"Hermione, Hermione! Are you ok? We saw you get up, and we were about to follow you but Neville got in our way 'cause he was on the floor picking something up and Ron tripped over him and hit his head on another bench and I helped him up but he said he felt dizzy and then..."<p>

"It's alright Harry! Don't worry about it, it's sorted"

"Hermione you don't look too well. What happened?" He grabbed her round the waist and gently directed her to the Gryffindor table.

"No, no, I'm fine, don't be silly. It's just, oh it's nothing really, I just felt...odd, when I was talking to him, you wouldn't understand" Hermione released Harry's arms from around her waist and placed her wand back in her pocket, shuffling back over to the Gryffindor table where everyone was still staring, and took her place in-between her two best friends. There was a silence between the three of them as Hermione contemplated the feeling that had just come over her whilst arguing with Malfoy, until Ron broke that silence.

"Come to think of it, you do go a bit clumsy when speaking to Malfoy, but I suppose most people do. It's natural to be scared of him because of who his father is"

Hermione was aghast at Ron's words, she thought he knew her, but obviously he didn't "Don't be so silly Ronald! I am **not** afraid of that foul loathsome evil little cockroach! How dare you even suggest that?"

"WOW, for Merlin's sake Hermione! I was only saying..." his words trailed into silence as he saw the look of anger and sadness on Hermione's face. He turned his head slightly to whisper at Harry "someone got out the wrong side of bed this morning didn't they? Moody git" and with that he burst out laughing whilst Harry stifled a giggle, but unbeknown to them Hermione heard and, already in a mood , she was even more outraged by Harry and Ron's childish behaviour.

"You never understand!" and stormed out of the great hall at once leaving nothing but her leftover lunch.

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><p><strong> Thank you for reading the first chapter of Filthy Beautiful, I hope you liked it! And this is my first fanfic so please, please review. Constructive criticism is welcome! Thank you x<strong>


	2. For whom the heart needs

**Chapter 2 – For whom the heart needs**

**Author's note: I didn't really like this chapter so I edited it and added better things. The only problem is that it's not changing and I don't understand why. Also, thank you to Just Your Above Average Malfoy for being the first to review.**

As Hermione exited through the double doors of the Great Hall, she broke into a run and continued all the way to the entrance of the dungeons. She did not know why her feet had carried her here but now she couldn't get them to move. It was as if they were waiting for someone or something. A strange feeling suddenly fell over her; she felt upset, angry and so confused about what she had been feeling whilst arguing with Malfoy. The image of his thin pale face formed in her mind, but he wasn't scowling for once. It was a smile, an actual smile that reached his eyes and she felt happy. She couldn't remember when she had last felt so much happiness and she started to laugh. However her laughter didn't last long as the tears from earlier that she had so desperately tried to hold back came streaming down her cheeks at once and falling, one by one to the cold, black, tiled floor beneath her.

She slid down the wall and onto the floor, folding her arms around her pale, skinny legs to form a tight ball, her chocolate brown hair falling forward to cover her face. Her whole body shook as tears streamed down her cheeks even faster than before.

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><p>Malfoy couldn't contain his anger for that filthy little mud-blood, how could she have done that to him in front of the whole school. If anyone could have heard what he was thinking, he'd have been kicked out of the house and treated as an outcast. Imagine what his father would say <em>"You've disgraced the whole Malfoy family! You will never be a true Malfoy, not when you're in love with a disgusting mud-blood".<em> It was too painful to think about. He'll show his dad he can be proud of him once he's sorted out that filthy mud-blood! She'll pay for what she did!

Draco had managed to get Crabbe and Goyle to leave him alone for a while by leaving cakes on each of their beds, he knew they were extra stupid when it came to food. Although he couldn't take it usually, it came in very handy when he needed some time alone.

He went for a small walk around the school grounds, but had decided it was time to go back to his house's common room as the clock had just chimed 7 o'clock but as he rounded the corner to the secret entrance of the room he could swear he heard a noise, it almost sounded as if somebody was crying.

He didn't really want to go and find a weak little boy or girl who was probably a first year, it would mean having to say something or help them into the common room.

They were obviously a Slytherin; no one else would come and cry here when they knew slytherin's secret common room was around here somewhere, unless they were stupid or extremely naive. As he rounded the corner even more, the sobbing intensified and became much loader. _"Wow, this person really is sad" _Draco thought as he stepped out in plain view of the person. He jumped back, aghast at what he saw and stared down at the young girl, it was the mud-blood, the girl whose hair was as brown as the creamiest of chocolates or the girl whose wrists were small enough for anyone to place their hands round, the girl he had got into a fight with not that long ago.

He suddenly felt a wave of sadness as he stared down at the lonely, crying Gryffindor. Had he made her this sad? Was it his fault she was here alone, crying her heart out? She must have heard him at that point, because whilst he was gradually getting closer to her curled up form on the floor she tilted her head up wards and stared into his eyes. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and tears were still streaming down her cheeks, but a strange look crossed her face as she stared up at him. He felt a sharp pang in his chest as he stared into her soft, caramel eyes. It was strange, her eyes didn't show that usual twinkle and now she looked worn out and almost...dead. He reached his hand down to her, with a sincere smile.

"Here, let me help you." She stared up at him in confusion but finally uncrossed her skinny little arms from around her legs and took his hand.

As soon as her skin touched his, Draco felt a shiver spreading all over his body, from head to toe and up to the very tips of his fingers. He felt slightly dizzy, which led to him to freeing the mud-blood's hand from his own resulting in her falling back to the ground with a large thump. He remembered what his father would say if he were to help a mud-blood and his eyes suddenly changed from an affectionate look to a fearsome, smug one.

"Ha, got you didn't I? You filthy mud-blood. You didn't really think I'd help you did you?" he turned his head slightly as he witnessed a single tear fall from the mud-blood's eye and down her cheek , but regained his control and gave his usual evil smirk which stretched from ear to ear and casually walked off to his house's common room.

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><p>Hermione was left, sprawled across the floor, helpless and feeling utterly appalled at herself; how could she have thought he would help her up? The Prince of Slytherin helping a measly Gryffindor ha, not in a million years. But there was that look, the look he gave her when she stared into his deep, grey eyes and reached his hand down to her, as if he had really meant it.<p>

_Oh stop being stupid Hermione; you're so stupid you fell for his prank. Now get up, clean your face and get back to your friends. _Hermione listened, lifted herself up and headed straight for the closest bathroom so that she could clean herself up before finding her friends. Unfortunately she would have to walk the way Malfoy went to get to the nearest bathroom, hopefully she wouldn't have to see him again or she didn't know what she might do. She grabbed her bag and headed off to the bathroom.

Hermione stared at herself in the dusty mirror; the tips of her curly brown hair were soaked from where her tears had landed and her face was covered in red splodges from how much crying she had been doing. Her mouth was curved into a frown and her eyes didn't show even the tiniest glint of happiness, only sadness and pain. She gasped as a rush of cold water covered her face and splashed the front of her robes.

As soon as her face looked reasonably normal again she shuffled over to one of the dark green toilet cubicles and locked herself in, took a book from her maroon school bag and started to read, forgetting the world and forgetting what had just happened between her and Malfoy. She was in a world she knew, a world where anything could happen, a world where she could be herself and not be bullied or judged because of it.

It wasn't until the door of the bathroom swung open that Hermione was abruptly brought back to the real world. She heard muttering coming from the sinks and knew immediately who it was. It was three of the Slytherin girls; Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode and Daphne Greengrass. These girls were not to be messed with, which was why Hermione was feeling quite worried but also awkward listening into their private conversation. If they knew, she wouldn't live to regret it!

"Oh Pansy, isn't Draco just a heart throb?" Millicent cooed

"Millicent! Draco's mine, don't even speak as though he could ever be yours" Pansy Shrieked. It's not like he would want to go out with any of them anyway, would he? Why did she care anyway_? You hate him Hermione_, her mind told her, but she just couldn't bring herself to believe what it was trying to tell her.

"Oh, but he is isn't he, I'd do anything to..." Pansy suddenly discontinued with her words and Hermione could only hear shushed whispers and gentle footsteps. Were they getting closer? She couldn't tell? What if they found her, what then? None of the Gryffindors would be down here, not in a million year, so she was alone. Three against one.

One door, two doors, three doors. Door by door was kicked down, which meant they knew someone was in here and it was only a matter of time before they got to her cubicle. They'd know she had been listening into their private conversation which would give them even more of a reason to 'let her have it' because Hermione already knew they hated her, just as much as Malfoy did and it's not as if they would have hesitated if they had found her in here alone, even if she hadn't been listening into their private conversation.

Two doors away now, one door away. It was now or never, run or stay, live or die. She grabbed her bag, unlocked the door and sped across the room, almost colliding with a leg that had been popped out in front of her to knock her off her feet. She managed to make it all the way over to the bathroom door without being caught or brutally attacked, she tossed it open and abruptly collided with somebody as she turned the corner leading to the stairs. She bounded off the body she had just crashed into and landed on the hard, tiled floor.

"Watch where you're going!" an angry voice boomed at Hermione as she struggled to collect all her books from the floor.

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><p><strong>This is my second chapter, I really enjoyed writing it and I hope you like it. I got a review hehe which means i'll be adding the next chapter on soon after I have finished my big bundle of homework. But still, please, please review. It will make my day! Thank you x<strong>


	3. uncontrollably and irrevocably

**Chapter 3 – u****ncontrollably and irrevocably**

_Damn, that hurt so much! _He watched as Hermione tried to collect her belonging from the floor with great effort and watched as she gave up leaving a few books behind. She was in so much of a rush that she hadn't even looked up to see that it was him talking to her and this annoyed him. He shouted after her as she ran up the stairs "you filthy little arrogant mud-blood!" with the most vehemence he could conjure and as she rounded the corner at the top of the stair he noticed she was limping._ It's not my fault the mud-blood can't look where she's going. _Although, he did feel a pang of sympathy for her. Why was she in such a rush? What was she running from?

He reached out and placed his hand upon the smooth, shiny green bathroom door and slowly opened it to reveal three girls from his own house. And now, instead of feeling sympathy for Granger, he felt anger that these girls had scared her enough for her to be too distracted and eager to get away as fast as she could. "What did you do to that Granger girl?" the words slipped out of his mouth, he couldn't believe it, he had actually used her name instead of an insult, and he liked it, Granger just rolled off his tongue naturally, it felt normal to say it and it filled him with warmth and happiness.

"Draco?" Pansy looked slightly worried.

"WHAT? I asked you a question!" Draco was beyond angry imagining what these girls had done to Granger.

"Oh right, sorry. It's just you sort of lapsed out for a minute. Well we didn't do anything to her, Draco. Granger was just reading or something in the toilet, ha what a nerd" This snide remark sparked even more anger inside Draco, he couldn't contain himself anymore.

"You have no right to even say her name! You touch one hair on her head and you will live to regret it! You hear me?" The three girl's jaws fell open during Draco's speech and as he looked at each of them individually and their completely shocked faces he begun to feel that he had just made a terrible, unforgiveable mistake. He turned swiftly and strode off into the other direction, towards the quidditch pitch.

He had to be alone, had to think by himself. He didn't know what he felt or what this feeling was, because he had never felt it before. There was a feeling of warmth filling the inside of him, and a strange tingling feeling in the pit of his stomach, as if somebody had released a jar of...butterflies, yes, it felt like butterflies .It was new to him and unknown, what was it called? He couldn't think as he climbed to the top of one of the quidditch stands, trying to erase Granger from his mind and concentrate on other things like winning the house cup this year or that quidditch game against Gryffindor in a few days. But as he thought about Gryffindor, he thought about Granger and he couldn't stop thinking about her, it was as if he was possessed. What if he was? She could have possessed him for always being mean to her little boyfriends. Wow that was surprising, saying Weasley and Potter were Granger's boyfriends had sparked another feeling inside Draco; another emotion he had never felt before. He didn't want Granger with them. He wanted her with him...

As soon as he arrived at the top of the stand he searched for a place where he could hide from the world and stay hidden if anyone came up , but as he searched he cause a glimpse of something brown and bushy in the corner of his eye. His heart started to leap out of his chest as he realised who he was looking at; it was Granger, her brown bushy hair waving in the wind, but she looked upset, no wonder after what he had done to her earlier. He breathed in and out slowly trying to keep composed and not show any sign of weakness.

"Granger?" It was barely audible but she heard it, she turned her face slightly to gaze up at him, the moonlight shining on her skinny pale face, outlining her cheek bones. He felt mesmerised, but he couldn't let her see it.

"What did you call me?" She answered

"Only the name you've used all your life" It was harsh, but he felt he had to keep up the cruel act.

"It's just...well, you've never called me by my name before. It's always been mud-blood, or half-blood." Her voice broke as she reached the word mud-blood and another tear fell from the corner of her already wet eye. He hadn't realised how much it had meant for him to call her by her name and looking at her warm crimson lips curve into a slight smile made him happy inside, knowing he had in fact made her that little bit happy. She was doing it to him again, putting a curse on him. He would never love a mud-blood; his father had taught him to never even touch one. What was he doing?

"STOP! You have no right to speak to a pure-blood like me. You're lucky you can even get this close!" Draco stepped back further away from her. But in that instant Granger stamped her foot on the hard ground, stood up, marched towards Malfoy and faced him; chin up with her lips in a pout.

"I don't understand you Draco. You have major mood swings; one minute you're actually quite nice, and the next you are behaving worse to me than you have ever done before" a tear fell freely from the corner of her eye, down her cheek and he could almost hear it as it fell from her chin onto the ground below. Draco's heart skipped a beat as her mouth formed his name; it felt so good for her to say it. What did this mean? Maybe it was love, but they could never be together and obviously she didn't love him! Who would love somebody who had called them the worst names possible?

Their noses were almost touching now as Granger stood up to Draco. He admired her courage, but he was also mesmerised by her, he was so close that he could smell her; it was the smell of the most delicious strawberries you could ever find and as he looked over her face and into her caramel eyes, he moved his gaze down to her pale, silky lips and watched as her mouth opened and closed slightly, preparing to fire comebacks at him.

He took his right hand and held it against Granger's face, tracing her cheek bone with his thumb, trying not to press too hard or to hurt her in the slightest. At his first touch he felt her quiver and the shock as she hadn't half expected what was happening. He also quivered as he felt her soft skin under his fingertips. He couldn't believe it, he had hated this girl for 5 years and now, all of a sudden, he was sure he was in love with her.

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><p>This was so strange, Draco Malfoy, son of the man who despises half-bloods and wants them all killed, is standing here, touching her. She thought she was going to collapse, his fingers sending slight tingles throughout her body and her knees feeling as though they were about to give way. This must be a dream but as much as she wanted to deny it, she couldn't help thinking that she wanted this too, maybe as much as he did.<p>

"Draco is this a-a-another joke?" she stuttered, feeling utterly embarrassed as she couldn't get her words out.

"Shut up, you **filthy**..." he cupped his hands around her face and drew her closer.

"...**beautiful** Hermione Granger."And as he said the word beautiful, she felt her knees give way underneath her, but she didn't fall, as she was being held up by two muscular pale arms firmly, around her waist, keeping her from hitting the ground. She felt his breath on her lips as he said her own name, a name she had never heard Draco Malfoy speak before. His crimson lips drew closer, his hot breath piercing into her skin and then she felt his lips meet hers, only for a second, but it was amazing and she knew at once that she was uncontrollably and irrevocably in love with him.


	4. It's on you

**Author's note: **Thank you for leaving some lovely reviews. This chapters a bit longer than the other but I tried to write it really quickly so that I could upload it for you guys. So please tell me if it's not too good. Thank you and please leave more reviews.

**Chapter 4 – It's on you**

She was beautiful, she was amazing! And that kiss...that kiss had been worth the wait. It wasn't long but it had so much emotion in it and as he raised his head to look back up into Hermione's caramel eyes he saw tears streaming from her eyes again, but instead of finding some snarky comment to throw at her like he normally did, he took his index finger and stroked her cheek catching the loose tear drops.

"Are those happy tears, Hermione?" he smiled a warm smile which spread to his eyes.

"Yes, yes. But I never knew you felt like this..." more tears spilled from her cheek, but her lips were curved into a magnificent smile.

"Neither did I, but I've spent so long trying to persuade myself that I had no feelings for you Hermione, but I do! Please tell me you feel the same." His head tilted downwards, eyes glued to the floor waiting for her response, either good or bad. But it was her who found her feet and took Draco's chin in her hand and lifted it so that their eyes were level, and replied "of corse I do, I have never felt like this about anyone before" and with that their lips had met again, but this time Draco slipped his tongue inside Hermione's lips and skimmed the walls of her mouth with his tongue. She tasted amazing. He was ecstatic, he was in love with this talented, beautiful, bushy haired girl and she was in love with him. She was his world now. It was perfect, like a dream.

He thought back to earlier and remembered something which slightly worried him. "Hermione, I saw you rush out of the toilet in a hurry earlier and I noticed you were limping. What happened to you? Did someone hurt you?" he could hear the panic in his own voice rise, so he stopped and let her answer before getting too worked up.

"Oh, you saw that, well, I collided with someone as I left the bathroom and I think I might have done something to my leg when I fell." She gave out a slight giggle as she imagined what those three Slytherin girls would think if they could see what their Slytherin Prince was up to now.

He beamed as he heard her laugh. It had been the first time he had ever gotten Hermione Granger to laugh. "Well, Hermione, it was actually me you collided with" he watched as horror struck her face, but he placed a hand on her face and stroked her cheek and suddenly all the panic disappeared from her face. _I must have a magic touch._ He thought to himself, amused at how easy it was to calm her down, just with the slightest touch.

Hermione now looked more embarrassed than anything, but a bit annoyed at herself for not realising she had knocked Draco Malfoy over rather than some random boy. "oops, I didn't realise, I was in too much of a rush to get away from..." and her voice trailed away leaving them in silence apart from the howling coming from the Forbidden Forest across the quidditch field.

"Can I just ask you one question Draco?"

"Of course Hermione" interest in what this question could be was surging through Draco.

"How did you know I was up here? I come up here for peace sometimes and nobody ever finds me here. So how did you know?" He gave a short laugh and looked up to see the night sky was almost midnight black.

"Come on, we better get inside or we won't be able to see anything." This was a stupid thing to say as they could have just used the _lumos_ spell to make a light, but he didn't know how to answer that question, he had just known where to go, it must have been fate.

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><p>"Hermione? I'm not sure if I'm ready yet" Hermione had never seen Draco this vulnerable and she needed him to be able to trust her.<p>

"It's ok Draco, I won't tell anyone about us yet, not until you're ready" he gave her a smile which melted her insides and took hold of her hand walking down the stairs in silence, hand in hand. Hermione had altogether forgotten about the pain in her leg for a while now, the kissing had focussed her mind on something completely different and even when Draco had asked about it the subject had been moved on swiftly, but now as they walked in silence the pain suddenly came shooting back up her leg. She screamed in pain as she fell to the ground, letting go of Draco's hand and landing flat on her face. Her face felt like it was on fire and she could fell a stinging in her knees and hands where they had hit the ground trying to break her fall.

"Hermione! Hermione are you ok? Oh Merlin, look at your hands" Draco clasped her hands between his and stroked them with the softest touch, gently releasing her from the pain in her hands. But she hadn't looked up at Draco yet, so he hadn't seen her face, she didn't know what she looked like but she could feel a cool wet substance dripping across her mouth.

"_Hermione? Hermione? Where are you Hermione?" _This voice was only too familiar, it was Harry Potter's. He must have come to look for her and heard her scream. She felt terrible now; he must think she's in some kind of danger.

"Draco, you must go! You didn't want anyone to find out about us, including him, especially him, so go now before he sees us. GO!" She raised her face to stare Draco directly in the eyes and gave him one last soft kiss before turning to go. But he grabbed her arm and swirled her back to him, staring into his gorgeous grey eyes.

"Hermione, your face! You must have broken your nose, oh my sweet Hermione" he pulled her closer as she tried to get away after hearing Harry's footsteps get closer to them. She didn't want to leave him; she wanted to be his forever. Draco lowered his voice to a whisper and spoke softly into Hermione's ear "Hermione Granger, I care more about you than I care for my reputation, so stop trying to hide me and let's get you to the hospital wing" But Hermione wasn't having it, she unattached Draco's long, slender fingers from around her arms, stroked him gently on his skinny, pale face and smiled up at him "Draco Malfoy, you know I love you with all my heart, but I want this to be up to you, I don't want to rush things, so let me go to the hospital wing with Harry and when you feel more comfortable, please come and see me. I'll only be there for a night at most. But remember..." she was stopped dead as her lips collided with Draco's one last time. "I love you" and with that she limped over to where Harry's voice was loudest and didn't look back to see if Draco had gone.

Hermione, oh my God Hermione. What happened? Who did this to you? I'll kill them, I swear to you I'll kill them!" Harry's heart was beating out of his chest, his veins popping out of his head. He was so angry. Who could have done this to her?

"Harry! Calm down" She reached out and embraced Harry in a friendly hug "I fell off the last stair coming down here" she pointed over to where she was last standing with Draco, hoping he wasn't in sight, otherwise Harry would blame him for what she looked like.

"What were you doing up there, Hermione?" and he gave a short laugh, but his face turned solemn once more as he looked at the blood smeared all over Hermione's robes, face, hands and knees. "Oh, who cares? Let's just get you to the hospital wing and see what Madame Pomfrey can do for you" he laughed tugging at her curls playfully.

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><p>Draco watched in the shadows as Potter wrapped his arm around Hermione's frail waist and twirled her chocolate brown curls through his fingers. What does he think he's doing? They don't look like friends. Then it suddenly came to him; potter's in love with Hermione. Of course! He remembered back to the times that he had insulted Hermione and how every time Harry had tried to protect her from him, and thinking about it, Potter probably deserved Hermione much more than he did after all the insults he's thrown at her over the past years.<p>

A sudden rustling behind him caused Draco to forget about Potter and he spun around instantly to suspiciously glare at the mysterious forest behind him, searching for any sign of movement. He's got to get out of here; no sane pupil would go into the forbidden forest. Well apart from those red-head weasel twins, but he'd hardly call any of the weasels sane. He had no idea what else could be lurking in the forest, probably werewolves and vampires and trolls and hundreds of other dangerous creatures. It's called Forbidden for a reason.

"Draco!" a voice hissed from behind one of the large yew trees just in front of Draco. Startled, he jumped back at the sound of his name. This is so strange, the person knows him so who could it be? Draco reached for his wand tucked into the inside pocket of his cloak. This person could be dangerous. Who knew?

He aimed his wand and as he tiptoed his way over to the large tree, a thin, dark haired face emerged from behind it. "Blaise! What are you doing here? I could have blown your head off!" His voice was angry, yet tinged with slight amusement.

"I saw you Draco!" He accused. On the contrary Blaise' voice didn't even have the slightest hint of amusement but was filled with anger and blame.

"What are you talking about Blaise?" He knew exactly what Blaise Zabini had seen, but he didn't want to let anything slip just in case.

"I saw you and that mudblood touching and kissing! What the _hell_ do you think you're doing Draco? And don't tell me it was a joke because it didn't look that way to me!" He was correct. Draco loved to be right, but in this instance it was definitely not a good thing.

Blaise had been Draco's best friend for a few years now; he could tell him almost everything, but this? This was just too personal and too...stupid! He would never understand. There was a few minutes silence as Draco tried to think of an appropriate excuse, but nothing came to mind. It was useless, Blaise would never believe him if he tried to lie, he knew Draco too well. "I..."

"Don't!" Blaise muttered, shoving his hand up in front of Draco's face to silence him. "Don't explain. I already know. I've seen you looking at her when she's not looking at you and I've noticed how your eyes change from dark grey to almost silver when you see her walk into a room. You're my best mate Draco, I know you! It was just too obvious, but I didn't want to believe it, I still don't want to believe it. What are you thinking mate? You know what the other Slytherins will do once they find out!" Worry erupted inside Draco as he imagined what he would have to go through once all the Slytherins did find out. But they didn't have to know, not unless Blaise tells someone"

"Blaise, I know what I'm doing, but you can't tell anyone!" He said it so matter-of-factly that he even started to believe that he did know what he was doing.

"Alright mate, but don't come running to me when you get kicked out of the house because you're in love with some half-blood Gryffindor! **It's on you**" And with that he strode off into the castle.


	5. Unpleasant surprise

**Author's note:** Hi, sorry it took me so long to put this on here, I just haven't had enough time recently. Well here it is, this is a bit different to the other chapters so I really hope you like it, please review and thank you for all your kind reviews so far. By the way, this chapter is written from Draco's POV, it's just something I wanted to try out.

**Chapter 5 – Unpleasant surprise.**

Draco's couldn't help but find his conversation with Blaise quite unnerving. What had he meant by 'It's on you'? Was it a threat?

But it's not as if he asked for this, or even had a choice.

Not long ago, those ridiculously bouncy curls stopped being annoying to him. That know-it-all attitude ceased to frustrate him. The fact that she had "dirty blood" became irrelevant to him. The day that he looked into her eyes and realized just how warm, brown, and fucking _beautiful_ they were… that was the day that he had lost his freedom, lost his choice.

He followed Blaise back up to the castle. He didn't particularly want to go back to the Slytherin common room, but he had nowhere else to go and besides, he had missed dinner and was ravenous. The dark hallway stretched out before him like an empty abyss, nonetheless he felt no need to light up his wand. He had been at this school for 6 years now and had been able to successfully memorize the halls so well that he could even navigate in the dark.

Draco made his way towards the dungeon. The halls were empty tonight; there were no prefects or rule-breaking students about, which meant he didn't have to engage in any meaningless conversations. However, he realised he had been wrong when he heard voices coming from around the corner. Draco immediately stopped dead and listened.

"shut up!" The command was followed by a few laughs and sniggers. Draco recognised those voices; it was Grabbe, Goyle and a few other fellow Slytherins from his year. "Hey, hey, hey. Where are you off to? We don't want to hurt you; we only want to talk to you." A sudden thud sounded from where the boys were and their laughter sounded again, slightly loader and more hysterical than the last time. "Well if you're going to be like that!" another sound echoed through the hall, it almost sounded like someone had just been punched. Draco felt sorry for the poor person being bullied by his two best mates. A few months ago, he would have enjoyed terrorising some poor idiot who happened to be wondering around the corridors by themselves this late at night, but he had changed and it just felt wrong. Evil.

He considered walking away and pretending he hadn't heard anything, at least then he could get something to eat, but something in his head told him this was no time to be walking away. He rounded the corner and exploded with rage as he witnessed what was taking place in front of him; 5 brawny Slytherin boys surrounded a frail, bushy haired Gryffindor girl who was withering in pain underneath them.

_Hermione?_

He couldn't move, his feet were plastered to the floor and he was unable to make a sound. It must have been the shock. He watched as she tried – although to no avail – to escape from the bunch of laughing, evil Slytherins surrounding her, but her legs and arms were tied down by ropes, probably put there by a binding curse.

The shock suddenly subsided, and Draco wasted no time. "What the _hell _do you think you're doing?" His head felt like it was about to explode with the hatred and anger he felt towards the 5 boys.

"Draco? Well we're just torturing the mudblood" Grabbe spoke up defensively.

He continued "do you want to join us?"

"Of corse I don't want to join you, you fucking idiot!" He hated the way Grabbe had referred to her simply as 'the mudblood'. As if she was nothing; dirt on the ground. It made him feel sick inside. He used to refer to her as 'the mudblood' but he hadn't known her then, she was so much more than that.

"Hey man, I thought you liked this kind of thing?" another Slytherin questioned, narrowing his eyes at Draco.

He didn't want to answer so instead he took a quick look at Hermione, just to make sure she was still breathing, but as he looked at her he could see her eyes shut tight; creases forming around them as if she was too frightened to open them.

"You better get out of here before a teacher comes! I haven't been winning quidditch games for nothing, you know! I actually want to win the house cup this year! Now GET OUT OF HERE!" He knew this was the only way he'd be able to scare them off and he was right; Grabbe took off down the pitch black corridor along with the 3 other boys. Goyle was left, staring into Draco's stone grey eyes through his own narrowed eyes.

"What about her?" He hissed, pointing his wand at the girl, crumpled on the cold floor.

"I'll deal with it, now leave!" He was surprised at the amount of rage he could hear in his voice, and by the looks of it, so was Goyle.

"Draco? I don't understand what the problem is? She's just a mudblood" Just a mudblood? Just a mudblood? She wasn't just a mudblood, she was anything but 'just a mudblood'. She was intelligent, witty, kind, thoughtful, funny, cheerful, brave, generous, sweet, heartfelt, caring, discerning and not to mention downright _gorgeous! _

He seized Goyle by the collar and hauled him up against the stone wall behind him, knocking the breath out of him. "I mean it Goyle, get the _fuck_ out of here or I will kill you! And you dare try anything like this again and I will make sure you suffer in ways you can't even imagine. Do you understand me?"

Goyle jerked his head violently and Draco released him right away, debating whether killing him would be worth spending an eternity in Azkaban. But that would mean not being able to see Hermione again and there was no way on earth that he could do that. He motioned his head to the right, signalling Goyle to get out of his sight and to his satisfaction Goyle obliged and sprinted of in the same direction as Grabbe and the other Slytherins.

"Draco, is that you?" a raspy voice, barely above a whisper sounded from behind Draco. He spun around to see a pair of wide chocolate brown eyes staring directly into his. He gave her a weak smile and slowly headed towards her.

He examined her as she lay still on the floor; her face covered in cuts, a few were already starting to form bruises. She had a large blackish, purple circle around her left eye and blood was trickling down the side of her face from her bottom lip. His gaze moved further down her body and he noticed that her robes were ripped, revealing bloody smears covering her pale white skin. Anger surged up in him again and he was now considering that maybe Azkaban was worth it if those bloody idiots were dead and could no longer hurt her. At least he would have his revenge and she would be safe.

Hermione lay there, tied to the stone floor. It broke Draco's heart to see her like this; she looked broken, almost dead. He managed to free her from the ropes and slid his arm around her waist pulling her in close to him so that their bodies were touching. It was funny how they fit together like two jig-saw pieces. He pulled away and held her by the shoulders, her head drooping forward slightly.

"What have they done to you Hermione?" He said it more to himself, he didn't want to know what they had done to her, it would make him want to kill them even more than he did now, if that was possible.

She raised her head and her soft brown eyes filled with tears "they, they tort, tortured me Draco. They pinned me down and I couldn't, I couldn't do anything, they had a knife...they cut me Draco" Hermione burst into load sobs. They cut her? They not only used magic to torture her but they cut her with a knife, those sick idiots!

"What were you doing here Hermione? I saw you leave with Harry. If he left you..."

"no, no Harry didn't leave me" she was struggling to speak due to how weak she was but she carried on. "I went with him to Madame Pomfrey and she helped me but I wanted to see you, so I came down here and I..." her voice broke and she burst into tears again. It was his entire fault; he should have been down here.

He embraced her in another tight hug, her head falling forward onto his shoulder. He stroked her bushy brown hair and pressed his lips against her ear "everything's going to be alright Hermione. Let's just get you somewhere to sleep and you'll feel much better." His first thought was to take her straight to Madame Pomfrey but she would get suspicious; a pureblood Slytherin carrying a battered mudblood Gryffindor 'oh hey, I just found her like this' yeah right. He couldn't exactly bring her to his bedroom either because he shared his room with 3 more boys, including Grabbe and Goyle. That wouldn't go so well. Although, there was one more place he could try.

He placed his left arm behind her back and his other, behind her knees, gently lifting her off the floor and into his arms. She was lighter than he imagined she would be which was a massive relief because the place he was taking her was quite a long walk from here. Her head flopped against his chest and as her she struggled to keep her eyes open he leaned down and lightly kissed her on the forehead. "Go to sleep Hermione" and with that her eyes closed shut and her breathing grew steady. He loved watching her sleep, she looked so peaceful and happy. She was breathtakingly beautiful.

The prefect toilet on the fifth floor was where Draco sometimes went when he needed some time alone. It was rarely used as the prefects had just been given a new private bathroom somewhere else in the castle for their 'amazing' work with keeping the rest of the students in line and out of trouble. He knew he wouldn't be disturbed this late at night.

He settled Hermione down onto the cold, hard floor trying not to wake her as he cast a spell; forming a couple of pillows and a big, double duvet. He gently lifter her head and slipped in the pillow so that her head would at least be comfortable. He then folded the blanket in half and covered Hermione's body with it. _Damn it! _He had woken her. Her eyes flickered open and her gaze fell upon Draco's face.

"Sorry Hermione, I was just making sure you're warm enough" he whispered close to her ear. She gave him a faint smile and clasped his hand in hers bringing them slowly up towards her face. Draco was shocked as Hermione kissed his hands, "Stay with me Draco"

"Always. I love you"

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><p>Remember to leave some reviews, constructive criticism is always welcome. Thank you.<p> 


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